Most of us with financial resources and family support believe that we could never end up homeless. However, Carrie Cline, the mother of Tessa, an Early Head Start participant, would tell us otherwise. Carrie was a teenager living at home with her family when she became pregnant. She was asked to leave home. With her support system suddenly gone, she found herself frightened, pregnant, and homeless. By the time Carrie found support through People Incorporated’s Early Head Start and Resource Mothers programs, she was three months into her pregnancy and had been moving from neighbor’s house to neighbor’s house and staying off and on with different relatives because she no longer had a permanent home. She even slept in her car on those occasions when she could not find anyone to take her in for the night. Without medical insurance, a job, or transportation, she had gone without crucial prenatal care for those three months, potentially harming her own health and the health of her baby.

            Seeing that Carrie needed help, a relative suggested that she contact People Incorporated to find housing.  During the program intake when Carrie revealed that she was pregnant, Kris Lowe, a home visitor in Buchanan County, Virginia, dually enrolled Carrie in the Resource Mothers/ Early Head Start program and helped her sign up for support services, including WIC (Women, Infants, Children). With help from her Early Head Start/Resource Mothers home visitor, Carrie was able to access prenatal care and the transportation to get her to and from her medical appointments. In addition, Kris also encouraged her to find a job and seek public housing assistance to alleviate her homelessness.

            Since enrolling in Resource Mothers/Early Head Start, Carrie has made magnificent strides. Resource Mothers provided her with support and prenatal education during her pregnancy, as well as parenting education post-delivery. Her home visitor, Kris Lowe, also encouraged her to continue her education.  Carrie now has full-time employment with Issues & Answers, a call center specializing in marketing outreach services. In September, she delivered a healthy and happy baby girl, Tessa.  As an infant enrolled in the Early Head Start program, Tessa will continue to benefit from the program’s developmentally appropriate early childhood education, developmental health screenings, and other health-related activities until age 4. At age 4, Tessa will be eligible to transition from Early Head Start into People Incorporated’s Head Start program.

            Her relationship with her family has improved, as well, and she has moved back in with her father and stepmother until she can access affordable housing.

            Of the program, Carrie says. “Because I had no means of transportation, I probably would never have gotten any prenatal care if it wasn’t for the support and encouragement my Early Head Start home visitor gave me.”

For more information, please contact Susan French at People Incorporated at (276) 623-9000.